Agnieszka Podsiadlik: “Mug’s Poland exists, but it is not the only one”

Votes

Mug takes two real events: the construction of an enormous statue of Jesus in the Polish town of Świebodzin and a famous face transplant.

This combination points out the harmful influence of Catholicism in Polish society, repressed and submissive to the omnipresence of religion. A "very important and hot" topic in its country, that has recently seen how an explicit critique against the abuses of the Church, Kler, has become a blockbuster with more than five million viewers. Mug has not received direct attacks from the Church because it is "more metaphorical, a sort of fable", but the critics of its country were divided and the conservative media were not benevolent with its vision of the matter. For Agnieszka Podsiadlik, this portrayed side of Poland, closed and reticent to the changes, "exists, but it is not the only one."

In Małgorzata Szumowska’s film, the Polish singer plays her most influential role to date; she is the sister of the main character, a man whose existence in a small town changes when he suffers a work accident that disfigures him. The collaboration between the actress and the director began with the "mutual curiosity" of working together, in a process for which the director gave the actress "a lot of freedom" to finish configuring her character, who was only outlined, which she considers the key in the discursive proposal because "she has strength to support his brother, but not to change her own life." She is a woman without a name whose motivation "is channelled into fulfilling roles with her brother, like those of mother or nurse, but never herself." From this relationship she gets "acceptance and understanding", although both belong to very different worlds.

Before coming to FICX56, the film was premiered at Berlin Film Festival, where the reactions were "very spontaneous, with laughter and strong silences", unlike the "very serious" reaction in Poland, where the audience receives "a close and not very pleasant reflection of their society", a reaction that they value as "good, because it generates a lot of discussion." Now, the actress and the director are "happy and excited" about the first contact of this portrait of conservative Poland with the Spanish public.